[{Table style='width:100%' | [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TGS,Ch14'}] | %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/dragon_bw.gif' align='center' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Dragon Chapter Icon Usage'}] ''[TGS|The Gathering Storm]: A Place to Begin'' %% | [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TGS,Ch16' align='right'}] }] %%tabs ! __Rand__ POV [Rand|Rand alThor] is in his room with [Min|Min Farshaw] waiting for a report from [Rhuarc] when he dozes off. He wakes on the floor of a familiar stone hallway. He realizes this must be %%ot [Tel'aran'rhiod|TelAranRhiod]%% or something like it. [Egwene|Egwene alVere] and the [Wise Ones|Aiel] would not tell him much about it. He opens a door to a simple room with arches looking out on a sky with burning red clouds. There is a fireplace with two high chairs. The stones of the fireplace look burned.[1] [Moridin] sits in one of the chairs. [Rand|Rand alThor] recognizes him from his visions similar to [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and [Perrin|Perrin Aybara] and from [Shadar Logoth|Aridhol (City)].[2] The colors do not appear now.[3] [Rand|Rand alThor] insists that [Moridin] is dead. [Moridin] replies that [Rand|Rand alThor] is dead, too, when he lashed out creating [Dragonmount]. [Rand|Rand alThor] wonders how many of the other [Forsaken] have returned. [Moridin] says the [Great Lord|Shaitan] can bring back anyone save those killed with [balefire|Weaves#b].[4] [Rand|Rand alThor] notices that [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] is gone from his mind and he feels more stable.[5] [Moridin] asks why [Rand|Rand alThor] came here.[6] [Moridin] says he could kill [Semirhage] for what she did.[7] [Rand|Rand alThor] says he will defeat the [Dark One|Shaitan]. [Moridin] says it does not matter. The [Great Lord|Shaitan] has all eternity and he only has to win once to stop the Wheel.[8] [Rand|Rand alThor] says he intends to kill the [Dark One|Shaitan] and [Moridin] replies that [Rand|Rand alThor] cannot comprehend how stupid that concept is.[9] [Rand|Rand alThor] reaches for the [One Power] and is pulled back into normal sleep. \\ \\ More [Rand POV] ! __Min__ POV [Min|Min Farshaw] is reading ''Ponderings'' by [Pelateos|pelateos][10] when she notes that [Rand|Rand alThor] stops thrashing in the bed. She still smells smoke and thinks [Aviendha] saved them from disaster. She thinks of [Herid Fel], killed by [Shadowspawn] for his discoveries. She still has the slip of paper that reads, "Belief and order give strength. Have to clear rubble before you can build." She thinks she has discovered a clue to reseal the [Dark One|Shaitan]. She also sees herself as a last stand bodyguard for [Rand|Rand alThor] though she is not as good with knives as [Thom|Thom Merrilin]. [Rand|Rand alThor] wakes and says that [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] is back. He admits to her that [Semirhage] was right about the voice. He says that her [viewing|viewings] of two people merging into one proves that [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] is real.[11] He tells her that [Ishamael] is back. He will have to use [balefire|Weaves#b] to kill them permanently, despite what [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] said. [Min|Min Farshaw] tells him that he must destroy the remaining [seals|Seals]. [Rand|Rand alThor] says yes, that sounds right. She sees more [viewings] of him: * Fireflies consumed in darkness. * Three women before a pyre. * Flashes of light, darkness, shadow, signs of death, crowns, injuries, pain and hope. [Rand|Rand alThor] asks her if she has found what to do after breaking the [seals|Seals]. She promises to find answers. She feels that he trusts her. He still seems stone, but it is a place to begin. \\ \\ More [Min POV] ! __Aviendha__ POV [Aviendha] is exhausted from her most recent punishment, jogging back and forth across the camp to light and extinguish a lantern. [Amys] walks up. As they walk, a gateway opens on the [Traveling|Weaves#t] grounds and [Damer Flinn], [Davram Bashere] and several [Aiel] and [Saldaeans|Saldaea], returning from their meeting with the [Seanchan|Seanchan (People)], hurry to the manor house. A [Maiden|Maidens of the Spear], [Corana|corana] stops to tell [Amys] that the [Seanchan|Seanchan (People)] have agreed to a meeting with [Rand|Rand alThor]. [Corana|corana] is upset with the truce but [Aviendha] wisely puts her in her place. [Corana|corana] tells them that the [Seanchan|Seanchan (People)] were showing off their [Shaido] [Wise One|Aiel] %%ot [damane|Seanchan (People)]%%. Though furious, [Aviendha] says that this changes nothing and [Amys] tells her they will have their vengeance. They send her to tell the clan chiefs. [Aviendha] feels through the bond that [Rand|Rand alThor] is now sleeping though he was with [Min|Min Farshaw] earlier. [Amys] says she will think up better punishments for [Aviendha] tomorrow.[12] \\%%follow [Follow Rand, Nynaeve and Aviendha|TGS,Ch17]%% \\ \\ More [Aviendha POV] %% %%collapsebox-closed ! Notes (Possible Spoilers) [#1] From [Rand|Rand alThor]'s final confrontation with [Ishamael] in [TEotW,Ch52]. \\[#2] [Moridin] was the [Wanderer|moridin] who saved [Rand|Rand alThor] before he killed [Sammael] in [ACoS,Ch41]. \\[#3] Curious. Why not? \\[#4] Why would [Moridin] tell [Rand|Rand alThor] how to kill the [Forsaken] permanently? Is this a slip or is it intentional? \\[#5] Yet another unanswered question. Why is [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] gone? \\[#6] This seems to be a genuine question. It must be the effect of the strange bond between [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Moridin] that brought them together. \\[#7] We do not see [Moridin]'s left hand. It seems that harm to [Rand|Rand alThor] now directly affects [Moridin]. \\[#8] We finally see the core of [Moridin]'s philosophy. \\[#9] While we can only guess at this point, the [Dark One|Shaitan] must be fundamentally tied to all of existence. \\[#10] A play on Plato's Musings \\[#11] Or is this yet another misinterpretation? \\[#12] Even though [Aviendha] is doing an excellent job! We find out what she has been doing wrong in [TGS,Ch26]. %% ---- More [Category Chapters], [Dragon Chapter Icon Usage]